


New Partner

by storiesfortravellers



Category: Almost Human
Genre: Angst, Dorian Is Good at Figuring Things Out, Erased memories, M/M, Robot Feels, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 13:06:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1094199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storiesfortravellers/pseuds/storiesfortravellers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dorian has been reprogrammed and doesn't remember the relationship he used to have with John. John thinks it's better not to tell him, but Dorian is too good a detective not to figure some things out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Partner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sophie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sophie/gifts).



> A Yuletide treat for Sophie.

They sat in silence in the car until Dorian looked over at him and said, “You’re comfortable around me.”

“As much as I can be comfortable around an uptight know-it-all,” John grumbled.

“But you’re not comfortable around most people. You’re stiff and off-putting, with somewhat underdeveloped social skills.”

“Great, are you my shrink now?”

“No. But maybe a shrink wouldn’t be a bad idea. My point, though, John, is that you are comfortable around me the way that you are around Maldonado and Stahl. You’re only like that around people you know. But we’ve only been partners for two days,” Dorian said.

“Yeah, well, you’re just a synthetic. I don’t really care what you think. So I guess that makes me less awkward.”

Dorian stared at him for a moment, and John could feel the weight of his gaze. “All evidence suggests that you are more familiar with me than I am aware of. Which means that you would likely know that I would be… unenthusiastic about that comment. Which means, of course, that you are trying to distract me from the truth.”

John let out a long sigh. He could tell he wasn’t getting out of this one.

“What happened to me, John?” Dorian asked him, and John could see the need, the desperation behind the calm voice, to know his past, to know himself.

John swallowed. “Your memory was erased.”

“Why?”

John paused. “You broke some rules.”

“Why would I do that?”

“To help save the life of another android.”

“The _life_?” Dorian asked, and John knew (the old) Dorian well enough to know the real question: did using the word really mean that John believed that it was a life?

“Yes,” John said, staring forward as he drove.

Dorian was silent for a few moments. John wondered what he was thinking about.

“I assume we were partners,” Dorian said finally.

“Yeah,” John said, trying to keep any other information out of his voice.

“Because you obviously wouldn’t make the time to develop a close relationship with anyone except while on the job.”

“You know, I could do without the extra commentary,” John snapped.

“What would be the fun in that?” Dorian said, and he gave John a smile so familiar it felt like a stone in his gut.

“Look,” John said, “We worked together, yes. Okay? We were partners. Are you happy now?”

“Did we work well together?”

“Yes.”

“And that hesitation?”

“…We argued sometimes.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“It was completely your fault,” John added.

“I’m sure.”

“But we solved cases. Big ones.”

“Hm. It sounds like we were a good pair. It’s a shame I don’t have any memories of it.”

There was a long pause before John said, “Yes. It is.”

\--

“How was your weekend?” Dorian asked as he sat down with John, who was waiting and drinking coffee at the café table.

“It was swell,” John muttered. Dorian used to know that he didn’t like smalltalk. “Why did you want to meet here?”

“My weekend was quite interesting.”

John sighed impatiently, so Dorian continued, “I looked into the circumstances around the erasure of my memory.”

John leaned in. He said, “They won’t like that.”

“Then it’s a good thing I’m good at covering my tracks,” Dorian said with a smile.

“The old you thought he was good at covering his tracks, and look what happened to him.”

“You seem to care a great deal that that doesn’t happen again, John.”

“Yeah, well, you’re hard to train. I don’t want to take the effort of doing it again.”

Dorian frowned. “I know you don’t think I’m some object to program. So don’t talk to me like that,” he said, voice firm.

John stared for a moment, then nodded. “And how do you know I don’t think that?”

“I shouldn’t have been assigned to you for a second time. Several reports said that you should have done a better job controlling me. And that you should have reported me when you first noted signs of instability.”

“You weren’t unstable. You were just… uninterested in listening to people who were wrong.”

“I can see that we when we were partners last time, we must have had a lot in common. Anyway, when I looked into it, I found out that you protested and lodged several formal and informal complaints trying to stop my reprogramming and the erasure of my memories. Some people in the department said that you were constantly harassing them, and you received multiple reprimands and eventually a suspension. But you didn’t stop trying. And then, after I was reprogrammed, you somehow got me assigned as your partner again, even though it was strongly recommended against. I examined the situation more closely, and it appears that you blackmailed someone in senior administration to make it happen.”

He looked at John, a little smugly.

John let out a breath. “You always were a good detective.”

“Why did you do it?”

John paused. “You got a raw deal. It wasn’t right.”

“Hm,” Dorian said, the slightest of smiles tracing his lips.

“Are we done now? Unless you plan to turn me in for blackmail?”

“Of course not.”

“I thought you were reprogrammed to be more… by the book.”

“I still have my basic ability to adapt,” Dorian said casually.

“Of course.”

“Do I seem different?” Dorian asked. “They said I’d be better than before, but they wouldn’t say exactly what that meant. Do you see a lot of… changes?” His voice was tense, and John didn’t blame him; John knew what it was to try to figure out if your old self or your new self were the real one.

“I don’t know yet,” John said honestly. “I’ve been trying to figure it out.”

“What do you hope? That I’m the same guy who had to get his mind erased? Or do you hope that I’m ‘improved’?”

John didn’t look at him. “You were a good partner then. You’re a good partner now. So I don’t see that it should matter to me.”

“Yeah,” Dorian frowned, skepticism clear, and John remembered all the times the old Dorian had told him he was a shitty liar.

“We’re late for work,” John said, and finished the last of his cold coffee. He went to throw the cup out and turned their conversation to their case.

\--

The new Dorian had been back for a month before John decided they should hit the bar together. Just as John was taking his first sip, Dorian turned and asked John, “Were we more than partners?”

John managed not to choke. He put his glass down and said, “What makes you think that?”

“I think you miss the old me.”

“I don’t like change.”

Dorian paused. “I have a right to know, John. You fought for me to keep my memories, but they took them anyway. And now you’re keeping my own past from me, too.”

“That is _not_ the same!” John said.

“Why? You’re refusing to tell me.”

“Tell you what?” John muttered and gulped his drink.

“You know what,” Dorian said slowly, staring at John, daring John to refuse him this.

John put his arms wide against the bar, slumped into a lean. Finally, he said, “We were friends, okay?”

“And that’s all?”

“…You were pretty much my only friend.”

“That’s no surprise,” Dorian said.

“And I was yours too, by the way.”

Dorian smiled, unperturbed. “And is that all we were? Friends?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do.”

John didn’t answer.

“Is that why you wanted me to be your partner again?” Dorian asked.

“Of course not,” John said, surprised that Dorian would think that.

“You wouldn’t be the first person to develop a physical relationship with an android.”

John’s lips thinned, and Dorian concluded, “That offends you. That I suggested it was merely a physical arrangement.”

“You need to stop asking about this,” John said and turned away.

Dorian grabbed his arm and gently turned him back. “Tell me why you wanted me to be your partner again.”

“So I can protect you this time,” John spat.

Dorian paused, thinking. “You think you failed me.”

“I couldn’t save you,” John said, brow creasing.

“And you’re trying to make up for it? You aren’t responsible for what happened to me, John.”

“Look. Look. I just… I don’t think you should be partners with someone else.”

Dorian raised an eyebrow. 

“It’s not jealousy,” John quickly added. “It’s… another cop might not….”

“Another cop might report me for instability the first mistake I made. And if this reprogramming doesn’t work, I’m... shut down for good.”

John didn’t answer.

“You wanted to protect me,” Dorian said.

“You were more than a partner,” John finally said.

“But you … don’t want me to be more than a partner again?” Dorian asked, confused.

“You’re not…”

“I’m not him?” Dorian asked, bewildered.

“No.”

“You don’t know that. Who are you to say that I’m just a few memory files? I’m the same, John.”

He was standing close to John now, leaning in, his lips just inches away from John’s.

John resisted the temptation to meet them. He closed his eyes for a second, then opened them, set his jaw. “What would it mean if I treated you like … like you’re… replaceable? I owe him better than that.”

Dorian considered that, then looked down. “I don’t see it that way, John. I just see you, pushing me away because I don’t remember what we used to be. But that’s not my fault. That was something that was done to me.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Then give me a chance. Treat me like _me_!” Dorian said.

“Do you really know that you’re the same person? Can you really be sure?” John said, angry.

Dorian paused, then all of a sudden looked crushed. “No,” he gritted out. “No, I can’t say for sure. I have no damn idea who I am, do I?”

“I’m sorry. I … shouldn’t have….”

“Shouldn’t have loved a machine?” Dorian said.

“I would never say that.”

Dorian paused. Then he said, “You know, if you were hurt, and you lost your memories, I would teach you all the things you forgot. I wouldn’t think of it as building your replacement.”

John stared at him for a long time. Finally, he nodded.

Dorian added, “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. It’ll take a while to figure out. But we will.”

John’s lips turned up into a sad smile. “That’s almost exactly what you said to me the first time.”

“Does that make you think that I’m still him?”

“I don’t know. But… it does make me think that maybe you’re right.”

Dorian smiled, relieved. He leaned in closer and waited.

John closed the gap and met him with a kiss. 

They parted and Dorian asked, “Was that like it was with the old me?”

“Does it matter?” John said.

Dorian smiled. “I guess it doesn’t. We’ll have plenty more to compare it to.”

He leaned in to kiss John again. Then he whispered in John’s ear, “How does that feel?”

John answered, “It feels right.” He was even pretty sure that he meant it.


End file.
